IMPACT in Biological News

Bioethanol's impact on water supply 3 times higher than once thought

At a time when water supplies are scarce in many areas of the United States, scientists in Minnesota are reporting that production of bioethanol often regarded as the clean-burning energy source of the future may consume up to three times more water than previously thought. Their study appeared ...

Scientists track impact of DNA damage in the developing brain

Switching off a key DNA repair system in the developing nervous system is linked to smaller brain size as well as problems in brain structures vital to movement, memory and emotion, according to new research led by St. Jude Children's Research Hospital scientists. The work, published in the Aug...

Negligible impact on public safety from shark cage diving operations

A study by five university researchersincluding four from the University of Hawai'i at Mānoaconcludes that existing shark cage diving enterprises in Hawai'i have a negligible effect on public safety. The paper, "Seasonal cycles and long-term trends in abundance and species composition of ...

New study ranks 'hotspots' of human impact on coastal areas

(Santa Barbara, Calif.) Coastal marine ecosystems are at risk worldwide as a result of human activities, according to scientists at UC Santa Barbara who have recently published a study in the Journal of Conservation Letters . The authors have performed the first integrated analysis of all coasta...

Canadian researchers set to study impact of nanomaterials on aquatic ecosystems

Edmonton A team of Canadian scientists and engineers, led by the University of Alberta and the National Research Council of Canada, will collaborate on a $3.39 million, three-year study to assess the potential effects of nanoparticles in specific water environments. "Nanotechnology is a very ...

Elsevier announces 2008 journal impact factor highlights

Amsterdam, 29 June 2009 Elsevier, the leading publisher of scientific, technical and medical information products and services, today announced the highlights of its journal impact factor performance in 2008. Elsevier overall saw 75% of its journal impact factors (IF) increase from 2007 to 2008. ...

Omega-3 fatty acids appear to impact AMD progression

BOSTON (June 18, 2009) - Omega-3 fatty acids found in fatty fish such as tuna and salmon may protect against progression of age-related macular degeneration (AMD), but the benefits appear to depend on the stage of disease and whether certain supplements are taken, report researchers at the Laborat...

A research work will be the reference to characterize the climatic impact of desert dust

This release is available in Spanish . In the context of the climatic change of the planet, those research works that throw light on global warming are of great interest. That is the case of the studies on atmospheric aerosol, a suspension of solid or liquid particles on a gaseous environm...

Spring agricultural fires have large impact on melting Arctic

DURHAM, N.H. - Scientists from around the world will convene at the University of New Hampshire June 2-5, 2009, to discuss key findings from the most ambitious effort ever undertaken to measure "short-lived" airborne pollutants in the Arctic and determine how they contribute in the near term to th...

Songbird study from CSHL, CCNY provides concrete measure of biology's impact on culture

Cold Spring Harbor, NY During infancy, each of us emerges from a delightful but largely incoherent babble of syllables and learns to speak normally, in the language of those who care for us. But imagine what would happen if we were somehow raised in utter isolation from other people, not only o...

UBC study first to show evolution's impact on ecosystems

Scientists have come to agree that different environments impact the evolution of new species. Now experiments conducted at the University of British Columbia are showing for the first time that the reverse is also true. Researchers from the UBC Biodiversity Research Centre created mini-ecosyst...

Study assesses impact of fish stocking on aquatic insects

The impact fish stocking has on aquatic insects in mountain lakes can be rapidly reversed by removing non-native trout, according to a study completed by U.S. Forest Service and University of California, Davis, scientists. Their findings appear in a current online issue of the journal Freshwater...

Professor to measure environmental impact of war

The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) has invited Michel A. Bouchard, a professor from the Universit de Montral's Faculty of Arts and Sciences, to help evaluate the ecological impact of the war in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and its neighboring countries. Three international...

GEN reports on Madoff scandal's impact on the life sciences

New Rochelle, NY, March 17, 2009While the Bernard Madoff Ponzi scheme led to the collapse of the Picower Foundation, a major benefactor for life science research, many bioindustry observers view the fallout from the scandal as a minor consequence in the larger economic picture, reports Genetic En...

'Experiment of nature' examines how mother's diet may impact on child's health

Could our mother's diet at the time we are conceived set the course for our future health? This intriguing question is at the heart of a new study based on an "experiment of nature" being conducted by Wellcome Trust-funded researchers. We inherit our DNA the genetic blueprint that determines o...

Darwin's seminal impact on biology, anthropology, philosophy and psychology

Montreal, February 10, 2009 The year 2009 marks the 150 anniversary of Charles Darwin's " On the Origin of the Species " a seminal book that permeated countless disciplines and remains controversial. As February 12 also marks the bicentennial anniversary of Darwin's birth, the following Universi...

Climate change's impact on invasive plants in Western US may create restoration opportunities

Princeton, NJ January 27, 2009 A new study by researchers at Princeton University's Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs has found that global climate change may lead to the retreat of some invasive plant species in the western United States, which could create unprecedented...

The global impact of climate change on biodiversity

When three undergraduates set off on an expedition in 1965 to trap moths on Mount Kinabalu in Borneo, little did they realise that they were establishing the groundwork for a study of the impacts of climate change. New research led by the University of York has repeated the survey 42 years lat...

UBC researcher gives first-ever estimate of worldwide fish biomass and impact on climate change

Are there really plenty of fish in the sea? University of British Columbia fisheries researcher Villy Christensen gives the first-ever estimate of total fish biomass in our oceans: Two billion tonnes. And fish play a previously unrecognized but significant role in mitigating climate change by m...

High blood sugar's impact on immune system holds clues to improving islet cell transplants

AUGUSTA, Ga. A biological tit for tat may hold clues to improving the success of islet cell transplants intended to cure type 1 diabetes, according to a Medical College of Georgia scientist. In type 1, the immune system attacks insulin-producing cells causing high blood glucose levels that ma...

Study: Did early climate impact divert a new glacial age?

SAN FRANCISCO The common wisdom is that the invention of the steam engine and the advent of the coal-fueled industrial age marked the beginning of human influence on global climate. But gathering physical evidence, backed by powerful simulations on the world's most advanced computer climate mo...

New satellite data reveal impact of Olympic pollution controls

Chinese government regulators had clearer skies and easier breathing in mind in the summer of 2008 when they temporarily shuttered some factories and banished many cars in a pre-Olympic sprint to clean up Beijing's air. And that's what they got. They were not necessarily planning for something...

These shells don't clam up: Innovative technique to record human impact on coastal waters

With their sedentary lifestyles and filter-feeding habits, clams have been silent witnesses to the changes that humans have inflicted upon their waters. These clams are silent no more, as Dr. Ruth H. Carmichael of the Dauphin Island Sea Lab and her colleagues have reported in their recent paper i...

These shells don't clam up: Innovative technique to record human impact on coastal waters

With their sedentary lifestyles and filter-feeding habits, clams have been silent witnesses to the changes that humans have inflicted upon their waters. These clams are silent no more, as Dr. Ruth H. Carmichael of the Dauphin Island Sea Lab and her colleagues have reported in their recent paper i...

Ecological impact of African cities

African cities are growing faster than anywhere else in the world. This is having a major impact, but few ecologists are studying the urban environment and effect of cities on rural areas. One of the most important ecological changes in Africa's history is being over-looked. Joy Clancy from the...

Track your fitness, environmental impact with new cell phone applications

Planning on gobbling a few extra treats this holiday season? Soon, your cell phone may be able to help you maintain your exercise routine and keep the pounds off over winter months, without your having to lift a finger to keep track. Researchers at the University of Washington and Intel have cr...

Issues at intersection of climate change and health impact global well-being

San Diego, November 18, 2008 The American Journal of Preventive Medicine special issue on climate change (November 2008), will be featured at the "Changing Climate Changing People" conference today in Los Angeles. Leading off the event is Guest Editor Howard Frumkin, MD, DrPH, speaking about th...

UBC study establishes formula for predicting climate change impact on salmon stocks

University of British Columbia researchers have found a way to accurately predict the impact of climate change on imperilled Pacific salmon stocks that could result in better management strategies. The findings, among the first to quantify a relationship between river temperature and salmon mo...

Expert recommends town councils to design low-allergy impact green spaces

This release is available in Spanish . Contributing to the diversity of plant species (avoiding the massive use of an only or a few species); using examples of native flora preferably instead of exotic species and promoting the participation of experts in the design of landscaped areas ar...

New Study Reveals the Emotional Impact and Effectiveness of Negative Campaigning

Signal Patterns' SP Labs Election Patterns Report explains the impact of negative campaigning tactics and the emotions of voters; report also reveals that openness and conscientiousness are best predictors of candidate preference and other key findings PLEASANTVILLE, N.Y., Oct. 23 /PRNewswir...

ICSU launches new program to understand the human impact on Earth's life-support systems

This release is available in French . Maputo, MozambiqueThe global scientific community has approved a new international research programme designed to understand the relationship between humans and the ecosystems that provide essential life-supporting services. The decision was made today...

Study looks at psychological impact of gene test for breast cancer

Personal beliefs about inconclusive DNA testing for hereditary breast cancer are associated with cancer-related worry, and such beliefs are an especially strong predictor of whether women had been able to leave the period of DNA-testing behind, reports a study in the October issue of Genetics in ...

Sociological research shows combined impact of genetics, social factors on delinquency

CHAPEL HILL, NC In one of the first studies to link molecular genetic variants to adolescent delinquency, sociological research published in the August issue of the American Sociological Review identifies three genetic predictorsof serious and violent delinquencythat gain predictive precision w...

Significant impact factor boost for scientific journal Genome Research

COLD SPRING HARBOR, N.Y. (July 7, 2008) Earlier this month, ThomsonReuters released the 2007 Journal Citation Reports , which includes impact factors for the world's most important scholarly journals. The scientific journal Genome Research , published by Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press, wa...

Iowa State researchers study ground cover to reduce impact of biomass harvest

AMES, Iowa -- Ground cover may be one workable method to reduce the effects of erosion that future biomass harvests are predicted to bring. Iowa State University researchers are looking at ways to use ground cover, a living grass planted between the rows of corn, in production farming. The s...

Climate change could severely impact California's unique native plants

Berkeley -- The native plants unique to California are so vulnerable to global climate change that two-thirds of these "endemics" could suffer more than an 80 percent reduction in geographic range by the end of the century, according to a new University of California, Berkeley, study. Because e...

Study in Science cites impact of anthropogenic nitrogen on ocean biology, atmospheric CO2

VIRGINIA KEY, Fla. Since the 1980s Dr. Joseph M. Prospero, professor of Marine and Atmospheric Chemistry at the University of Miamis Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science, has pioneered studies in the worldwide measurement of aerosols, fine particles suspended in the atmosphere and ...

First analysis of platypus genome may impact disease prevention

BATON ROUGE Theres no doubt about it ... the platypus is one odd duck-billed, egg-laying, lactating mammal. With adaptations like webbed feet to fit its aquatic lifestyle and the poison spurs that decorate males, the platypus represents for many a patchwork of evolutionary development. But LSUs ...

Arable land can have a negative impact on air quality

This release is available in German . Leipzig. Fallow agricultural land and steppe-formation processes are evidently capable of having a much greater effect on global air quality than was previously assumed. This is the conclusion drawn by researchers after examining a dust cloud that form...

65-million-year-old asteroid impact triggered a global hail of carbon beads

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- The asteroid presumed to have wiped out the dinosaurs struck the Earth with such force that carbon deep in the Earth's crust liquefied, rocketed skyward, and formed tiny airborne beads that blanketed the planet, say scientists from the U.S., U.K., Italy, and New Zealand in thi...